Kidnapping

KIDNAPPING is defined by Blackstone as the forcible abduction or stealing away of a man, woman, or child from their own country and sending them into another. The term is, however, more commonly applied to the offence of taking away children from the possession of their parents. By 24 and 25 Vict. c. 100, ".whosoever shall unlawfully, by force or fraud, lead or take away or decoy or entice away or detain any child under the age of fourteen years with intent to deprive any parent, guardian, or other person having the lawful care or charge of such child of the posses-sion of such child, or with intent to steal any article upon or about the person of such child, to whomsoever such article may belong, and whosoever shall with any such intent receive or harbour any such child, &c," shall be guilty of felony. The abduction or unlawfully taking away an unmarried girl under the age of sixteen years out of the possession and against the will of her father or mother, or any other person having the lawful care or charge of her, is a misdemeanour under the same Act. The term is used in much the same sense in the laws of the United States. Bishop states the more correct acceptation of the word to be false imprisonment aggravated by the intent to carry the person away to another place, but not necessarily to another country.